Claude Giroux
| birth_place = Hearst, Ontario, Canada | draft = 22nd overall | draft_year = 2006 | draft_team = Philadelphia Flyers | career_start = 2007 |}} Claude Giroux (born Claude Dari Giroux on January 12, 1988) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and captain of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Flyers selected him 22nd overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Prior to playing in the NHL, Claude played his major junior career with the Gatineau Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) where he helped win a 2008 President's Cup and earned the Guy Lafleur Trophy as the 2008 playoff MVP. Internationally, he won a gold medal with Team Canada in the 2008 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. In February of 2008, he made his debut with the Flyers and joined the roster full-time midway through the 2008-09 NHL season. In 2011 (after the blockbuster trades of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, he took over the role of the club's first line centre. He was the club's top point-scorer in both the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons. In 2012, Claude finished third in the league in point-scoring. He was named the captain of the Flyers at the start of the 2012–13 season. Playing Career Minor Playing Career Claude grew up playing hockey in his hometown of Hearst, Ontario, and played Bantam A for the Hearst Lumber Kings (NOHA) in the 2001–02 season. He and his family moved to Orléans, Ontario in the summer of 2002. In Orléans, he played Major Bantam AA and Minor Midget AA for the Cumberland Barons and was the club's leading scorer in the 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons. Eligible for the 2004 OHL draft, Claude entered, but he was undrafted. In the 2004–2005 season, he played for the Cumberland Grads. Despite missing most of the season after contracting mononucleosis, Claude scored 40 points in 48 games and was named CJHL's Rookie of the Year, however, he went undrafted once again at the 2005 OHL Draft. Junior Playing Career As as a free agent, Claude was invited to Gatineau Olympiques training camp for a walk-on tryout and signed shortly after. During his rookie season with the Olympiques, he scored 39 goals for a total of 103 points in 69 games and was named QMJHL's Rookie of the Year. Claude entered the 2006 NHL Entry Draft and was selected 22nd overall by the Philadelphia Flyers (rather embarrassingly, then-Flyers GM Bobby Clarke forgot Giroux's name at the podium before making the selection). On July 23, 2007, the Flyers signed him to an entry level contract. On February 19, 2008, Claude made his NHL debut when the Flyers visited the Ottawa Senators, recording no points and being the team's first shooter in the shootout. Sent back down to the Olympiques, he helped the club win the QMJHL Playoffs and earned himself the Guy Lafleur Trophy as MVP in the QMJHL Playoffs by scoring 17 goals and 34 assists in 19 playoff games, also setting a franchise record. Professional\NHL Career After a disappointing training camp for the Flyers at the beginning of the 2008–09 season, Claude was assigned to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Philadelphia Phantoms. After getting used to professional hockey, things turned around quickly. Claude was named Rookie of the Month for December for his 8 goals and 6 assists in 8 games played. He was called up to the Flyers after the Christmas break and remained there throughout the rest of the season. On December 31, 2008, he recorded his first NHL point by assisting on a Jeff Carter goal in a win over the Vancouver Canucks. He suffered a mild concussion during the next game when Corey Perry of the Anaheim Ducks elbowed him in the head. Claude finished the game but missed the next five. Perry was suspended for four games. On January 27, 2009, he scored his first NHL goal against goaltender Tomas Vokoun and the Florida Panthers in a 3–2 loss. Claude's first playoff goal came in a 6–3 win in game three of the 2009 Eastern Conference quarter-finals against Marc-Andre Fleury of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The same game also saw him setting up a short-handed goal when he stole the puck in the corner of the Penguins zone and outworked their backcheck, skating past the back of their net twice protecting the puck while looking for incoming support in the form of Simon Gagne. He ended the 2008–2009 season with 9 goals and 27 points in 42 games played. The Flyers were an inconsistent team for the bulk of the 2009–10 season which affected all of their players. Claude spent a large amount of time centring James van Riemsdyk, the highly touted rookie winger that the Flyers had drafted No. 2 overall in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. The Flyers' fortunes soon turned dramatically. They qualified for the playoffs on his game-winner in a shootout against the New York Rangers. Claude was a major point producer in a first round of the playoffs, dismantling the second seeded New Jersey Devils. The Flyers made an historic comeback from 3 games to 0 down against the Boston Bruins to win the next four and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals where they dominated the Montreal Canadiens. Claude scored the winning goal in overtime against the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 3 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals, but despite his continued production, the Flyers eventually lost in overtime in Game 6 of the finals. He ended the post-season with 21 playoff points, cementing his reputation as an outstanding young talent. A month into the 2010–11 season, the Flyers signed him to a three-year, $11.25 million contract extension. The contract (which was signed on November 8, 2010) will account for a $3.75 million cap hit annually On January 11, 2011, Claude was named to the 2011 NHL All-Star Game roster. He finished his breakout season with 25 goals and 51 assists in 82 games and scored a goal and 11 assists in 11 playoff games in which the Flyers defeated the Sabres and were defeated by the Bruins. On March 26, 2011, Claude played in his 200th career game against the New York Islanders. After the Flyers traded away Jeff Carter and Mike Richards in the 2011 off-season, Claude took over the role as first line centre for the club. The trading of Richards and Carter also made him the second longest tenured member of the Flyers. He formed a new top line with Scott Hartnell and free agent acquisition Jaromir Jagr. Claude dominated the league in point-scoring for much of the season, and was handled as a favorite for the Hart Trophy for league MVP early at the season's All-Star break. He finished the season a distant 16 points behind eventual MVP Evgeni Malkin. On April 13, 2012, Claude recorded his first career hat trick during game two of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He recorded six points during that same game, earning a Flyers record for most points during a single Stanley Cup Playoffs game. On May 7, 2012, Claude received a one game suspension for a hit to the head of New Jersey Devils forward Dainius Zubrus during game four of a second round playoff series. After the Flyers were eliminated by the Devils, he ended the season as both the Flyers' top regular season point-scorer (93 points) and top playoff point scorer (17 points). After the Flyers' elimination, Claude had surgery on both of his wrists; the right to repair torn cartilage and the left to remove bone spurs. He later claimed that Sidney Crosby had repeatedly slashed his wrists during face-offs in the first round series against Pittsburgh. At the time news of the surgery was revealed, he was still the playoffs' leading point scorer, even though his team had been eliminated two weeks earlier. On June 20, 2012, Claude was named the cover athlete for NHL 13 at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas. He became the first Philadelphia Flyer on an EA Sports NHL video game cover since Eric Lindros on NHL 99. On October 4, 2012, Claude was signed as a free by Eisbaren Berlin of the German Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) during the 2012–13 NHL lockout. His former Flyers teammate Danny Briere also played on the team with him. In his ninth game in Germany, he suffered from a neck and shoulder injury that was initially feared to be a concussion. Claude returned to North America and remained inactive through the remainder of the lockout. After the lockout ended, he was named the 19th team captain in Flyers history on January 15, 2013, taking over for the injured Chris Pronger. Once the shortened 2012–13 NHL season started, Claude got off to a slow start. Without last year's linemates Jagr (who signed with the Dallas Stars during free agency) and Hartnell (who suffered from a broken foot during the third game of the season). He registered only seven points through the team's first 13 games. Claude's season turned around once right winger Jakub Voracek (who was also struggling) was placed on his line. From February 12th through the end of the regular season, he was the fourth most productive player in the league, scoring 10 goals and 30 assists for a total of 40 points during that span. Claude finished with 48 points in 48 games and new linemate Voracek finished with a career high 22 goals. The team as a whole struggled and the Flyers missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2006–07 season. On July 5, 2013, Claude signed an eight-year, $66.2 million contract extension to stay in Philadelphia. Career Statistics International Statistics Awards & Achievements QMJHL Awards *Played in the 2005–06 CHL Top Prospects Game *QMJHL Rookie of the Month – December 2005 and March 2006 *2005–06 QMJHL All-Rookie Team *QMJHL Offensive Player of the Month – September 2006 *2008 President's Cup (QMJHL playoff champion) with Gatineau Olympiques *2008 Guy Lafleur Trophy (QMJHL playoff MVP) *2007–08 QMJHL First All-Star Team *2007–08 Canadian Major Junior First All-Star Team AHL Awards *AHL Rookie of the Month (December 2008) NHL Awards *2010 Prince of Wales Trophy with the Philadelphia Flyers *Played in the NHL All-Star Game in 2011 and 2012 Other Awards *2012 recipient of the John Wannamaker Athletic Award, an award presented by the Philadelphia Sports Congress (PSC) in recognition of his contributions to the Flyers during the 2011–12 season *Voted in as the cover athlete for EA Sports' NHL 13 video game Records *Gatineau Olympiques: 51 points in 19 playoff games *Philadelphia Flyers: Most points in a single Stanley Cup playoffs game (6) International Play }} Claude competed with Team Canada in the IIHF World Junior Ice Hockey Championship in 2008. He scored two goals and four assists in seven games to help Canada win its fourth consecutive WJC. Claude competed with Team Canada in the IIHF World Championship in April of 2013. He scored three goals and five assists in eight games. Personal Life Claude's parents are Raymond & Nicole Giroux. He has a sister named Isabelle. His nickname is "G." He attended Beatrice-Desloges High School in Orleans, Ontario, Canada. During the 2010-11 NHL season, Claude lived with his teammate Daniel Briere and his three sons in their home in Haddonfield, New Jersey. In 2011, he moved out and into an apartment with his teammate Brayden Schenn. Category:1988 births Category:Philadelphia Flyers players Category:Philadelphia Flyers draft picks